When I was a kid, there was a proliferation of super-hero types on television (although, to be fair, most of them were in perpetual repeat from the 1966 Batman boom) before everything turned into ripoffs of Star Wars around 1978. Even today, I enjoy watching Boomerang with my kid, explaining to her who the likes of Hong Kong Fooey and Space Ghost are, and why they’re all cooler than Batman, no matter what “Uncle” Stephen might try to tell her. (Even Apache Chief.) As a fanboy, I’ve always tried to adopt the mantra of Jeff Rovin’s Encyclopedia of Super-Heroes, which refused to treat the likes of El Kabong or Stupor Duck as lesser characters just because they were designed to be amusing rather than “bad@$$”, which leads me to fondly remember Underdog’s version of ‘High Noon‘ but also begs a query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) never understood why certain super-heroes are considered less important because of their medium of origin, asking: Who is your favorite cartoon-only super-type?
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I loved the M.A.S.K cartoon and their cool masks and suits ant the glaven.
As they said in Robot Chicken: “Why do we call these masks anyway? This is a helmet, not a mask.”
Captain Caveman was pretty rad. He was the world’s first superhero after all…
I’d have to go with “world’s chronologically earliest superhero.” :)
What about the Mighty Mightor?
I always loved that cartoon, although I despised L’il Rock, who always had to be saved, putting Mightor in trouble.
Back in the day, it was Mighty Mouse.
I used to like Silverhawks a lot as a kid. Sadly my figures became BB gun targets for my brother one day “cause they shattered so good.”
Batman Beyond. Granted trees in comics now.
Thundarr and The Herculoids were great. I wish Warner Brothers would do something with them
Agreed. The Herculoids especially are light-years ahead of their time…
If this were just a few years ago, I would have said the Terry McGinnis Batman (Batman Beyond), but since that has become part of the official DC Comics multiverse now (which I am happy about) I’ll have to choose another.
I’d have to say it is a tie between Ben 10 (although I’m not as big a fan of Ben 10 Omniverse, but everything before that was pretty good and Omniverse isn’t terrible), Dynomutt (and by association Blue Falcon) and Gear (From the “Static Shock” toon, who was loosely based on characters from the Static comic but as a super wasn’t an actual character from the comics).
I really enjoyed Birdman and the Galaxy Trio but my heart will always go to the herculoids. Giant RockApe!
Space Ghost … not sure if Shazzan counts as a superhero
I’ll allow it!
Gravity Girl from the Galaxy Trio! Power-wise she’s well above most of our ‘regular’ comic superheroes.
I’d love to see new versions of those old cartoons, the Galaxy Trio, Mightor, Thundarr, Space Ghost, Birdman… that would be so awesome!!
All of those wonderful cartoons made it worthwhile to turn on the TV on Saturday mornings! Sigh.
Does Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law count?
Also, if remakes count I liked the Secret Squirrel shorts in Two Stupid Dogs.
Always have a soft spot for the Space Sentinels. A bit cutting edge for their time, an era of square-jawed brash blokes telling everyone what to do (He-Man, I’m looking at you) as they had a black, female leader.
The Brown Hornet!
Did Boom ever do Gizmoduck?
I thought they did do something with Gizmoduck which is why I left him off my list, but I could be mistaken. He and Darkwing Duck would have been on my list otherwise.
Gizmo appeared in the Darkwing series from Boom, or at least his suit did…
The Mighty Heroes…always thought they were serious characters when I was young…also would Kid Video count? Maybe he is more of an adventurer…
As the arbiter of the MS-QOTD, I hereby declare that Kidd Video is at least superhero adjacent, and thus will count for the purposes of this discussion.
I have to go with Tundarr, but I’m really commenting because I want to thank Matthew for giving me the name of Jeff Rovin’s Encyclopedia of Super-Heroes. I checked that book out from the library every chance I got as a child. Fast forward to adulthood and I have been able to recall what it was called. So thank you.